Putin calls PM Modi after Alaska meet with Trump, bilateral ties reviewed

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said he received a phone call from his “friend” Russian President Vladimir Putin, who shared insights from his recent meeting with US President Donald Trump in Alaska. The two leaders agreed to “remain in close touch”. 

In contrast to the communication deadlock between the Indian government and the Trump administration in recent weeks, this was the second conversation between Modi and Putin since the White House announced secondary tariffs on India on August 7 over its purchase of Russian crude. 

They spoke on August 8, a day after Trump signed an executive order imposing a 25 per cent penalty on Indian goods for New Delhi’s oil trade with Russia. During that conversation, Modi and Putin “reaffirmed their commitment to further deepen the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between India and Russia”. 

 

The two leaders are scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in China’s Tianjin on August 31 and September 1. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is slated to be in Moscow for consultations with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on August 21. 

In the past 24 hours, Putin has phoned leaders of countries that Moscow considers close partners, briefing them about the outcome of the Alaska summit. On Sunday, he spoke with the presidents of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. On Monday, he called South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Prime Minister Modi. 

 

The phrasing of the PM’s social media post about the phone call sought to convey the robust Russia-India ties and his close personal rapport with the Russian President. “Thank my friend, President Putin, for his phone call and for sharing insights on his recent meeting with President Trump in Alaska,” the PM said on X. “I look forward to our continued exchanges in the days to come,” Modi said. 

In a statement, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said Putin shared “his assessment of his meeting” with Trump in Alaska. It said PM Modi underlined India’s consistent position for a peaceful resolution of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and reiterated India’s support for all efforts in this regard. The two leaders also discussed a number of issues of bilateral cooperation, the PMO said, adding that they agreed “to remain in close touch”. Putin is scheduled to visit India for the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit later this year. 

Since August 7, the PM has held telephonic conversations with the presidents of Brazil and Uzbekistan as well. 

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Saturday welcomed the Alaska summit and commended Putin and Trump for their initiative to bring peace to Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his European allies arrived in Washington on Monday to have the US President brief them about the Alaska Summit and discuss terms for a potential peace deal he discussed with Putin. 

Consistent with Washington’s efforts to keep up the pressure on India, in a sharply worded column, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro wrote in the Financial Times that the dramatic increase in India’s purchases of Russian oil since the invasion of Ukraine is “opportunistic and deeply corrosive” of a global effort to isolate the Kremlin and curb Putin’s war machine. “American consumers buy Indian goods,” he said. “India uses those dollars to buy discounted Russian crude,” he wrote. 

Earlier, the MEA had termed the additional tariff on India as “unreasonable” and “extremely unfortunate”.